


Beautiful Soul

by Uptown



Category: D.N. Angel
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Humor, Mild Language, Minor Violence, Original Character(s), POV Third Person, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 13:24:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9609308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uptown/pseuds/Uptown
Summary: A young girl comes to Azumano from overseas to escape her life for a while but gets caught in the middle of a world that's even less normal than the one she tried to leave behind. Protecting her own future may prove difficult when she discovers secrets she never wanted to know. DaiRiku, SatoRisa, and OC x ?. Contains some spoilers!





	

She swallowed hard.  She had waited for this moment for weeks, maybe even months; she had lost track of the time.  She paused, glancing apprehensively between her mother and father sitting across from her.  They looked slightly nervous, but not nearly as nervous as _she_ felt.  She’d tried this so many times before that the conversation itself seemed old, but this time it would be different… she hoped.  She took one last deep breath.

<I want to go to Japan.>

She told her parents her wish, in English, over dinner.  They were both unsurprised; she had mentioned it numerous times before but had never been able to go in the past because something always came up.  But now that there was nothing in her way, she didn’t think there was any chance they’d refuse.

Her mother spoke first.  <Shuuko, honey,> she said in her now-let’s-be-reasonable voice, switching to Japanese in mid-sentence, “I know you’ve been thinking about this a lot, but are you sure you’ve thought it through _enough?”_

Shuuko bit her lip.  _They can’t say no,_ she told herself again and again.  _I’ve waited forever for this._   “Mom, please,” she begged, leaning forward in her chair.  The ends of her hair almost fell into her soup.  “I want to go so badly.  I’ve been studying for years and I finally feel ready.”

<We’re both really proud of all the hard work you’ve put into this, Sasha> her father said in English, trying to keep up, <but it’s never easy going to another country no matter how much you’ve studied.>

<I _have_ to go, > Shuuko said, her voice getting higher.  She was starting to panic.  <I don’t belong here, Dad.  I can’t fit in.  I need to go somewhere else, somewhere where nobody knows me.>

Her parents exchanged significant looks.  _Uh oh._   Dread settled in her stomach.  <Sweetheart, you can’t just run off to another country just because no one here’ll go out with you,> her father teased.

<Todd!> her mother scolded.

<That’s not why I want to go!> Shuuko retorted.  < _No one_ here likes me, not just the boys.  I’ve never fit into the trendy American crowd, and I don’t want to.  Mom, > she pleaded, switching to Japanese.  “I need a break.  I think I’d like it in Japan.”

Her father’s familiar devious smile spread across his face that always signaled a witty remark coming.  <You know, if you like it too much there, you might never want to come back home, and if you fall madly in love with some samurai over there, that’s not going to be a good enough excuse for your mother and I.>

Shuuko scowled.  <Puh-lease,> she sighed.  <That’s not going to happen.  Samurai aren’t around anymore.>

<They are in my little girl’s fantasies,> her father grinned.

<Todd, stop making fun of her,> her mother scolded again.  Her father pretended to look guilty.

<Nikki–>

<Hush.>  Her mother turned back to her daughter.  “Shuuko,” she said in a resigned sort of voice, “I know how much this means to you.  I’m just worried about letting you go all alone.  You’re still young.”

“Please!” Shuuko finally snapped, her composure falling apart.  “I’ll call you every day if you want me to!  Pick the hotel, pick the school, I don’t care!  Just _please_ let me go!”

A little stunned at her sudden outburst, her mother and father exchanged another look.  “Let me talk to your father about it,” her mother said gently, but firmly.  “We need some time to think it over.”

Shuuko’s shoulders slumped, but she knew she had done all she could.  <Okay,> she said reluctantly.  <Thank you.>

After dinner up in her room, Shuuko flopped on her bed and stared up at the ceiling.  Would they really let her go?  Was she just wasting her time?  She sighed and rolled onto her stomach, burying her face in her pillow.  _Maybe I won’t ever get there,_ she thought sadly.  She sat up slowly and walked to her window that overlooked the quiet neighborhood street they lived on.  _I don’t belong here._

She didn’t use to think like this; for years, she had been able to cope with being the outsider, the girl who sat alone at lunch at school, the one who everyone thought was stuck up only because she was too shy to smile.  Now, however, she thought of this several times a day. _I have to get out of here._

She turned around to survey the bedroom that had been hers for fourteen years.  To anyone, one look around the room could tell you one of the most important things about her:  she loved to read.  She had several bookcases, all of which were crammed with books.  Her favorites were romance novels, but she read a lot of fantasy, too, as long as there was romance in them somewhere.  Her parents only let her read them because they knew it was the only thing that seemed to keep her happy.

Unable to think of anything else to do, Shuuko slipped into her bathroom to shower before bed.  By taking a good look in her bathroom, there was another thing you could tell about her:  she loved the smell of lavender.  Because she was a strong believer in lavender’s calming and relaxing effects, all her soaps and shampoos were scented with it.  She took a long hot shower, lathering herself with light purple suds, and got out with a towel wrapped around her.  Before putting on her nightgown, she paused to look at herself in the mirror.

She saw her large, clear blue eyes staring back from her reflection.  Even though her hair was soaked, it still stubbornly retained its constant, natural wave that hung down slightly past her shoulders.  And although her hair was darkened slightly from the water, it was still easy to tell how light her blonde hair was when it was dry, so pale it was almost white.  Her skin was hardly any darker; she never spent much time out in the sun, and when she did, she never forgot her sunscreen.  She was tall because of her American heritage, standing straight at 5’8”, and slender.

There was no denying that she was pretty—beautiful, some might argue—except that Shuuko never thought so.  She never thought much about herself, especially when it came to looks.  She was modest to a fault; she didn’t like admitting to any of her good qualities for fear of sounding vain, and consequently her self-esteem left much to be desired.

Once she was redressed, she stepped back out into her bedroom just in time to hear a soft knock on the door.  She opened it to see her mother standing on the landing.  “Oh, hi Mom,” Shuuko greeted in Japanese, her voice sounding flat and monotone in her depression.

“Shuuko,” her mother said with the air of someone about to admit something unpleasant, “I’ve spoken to your father about what we talked about at dinner.”

Shuuko’s heart skipped a beat.  This was her last hope.  “And?” she breathed.

“We think it might be good for you to get out on your own for a little while,” her mother said, managing a small smile.  “I know you’ve been unhappy here and I hate to see you so upset.”

“You’ll let me go?” Shuuko whispered.  Now that she was hearing it, it seemed too good to be true.

“Only because we know how much it means to you,” her mother said in an attempt to sound stern.  “We’re going to look for a house to rent for you once we find a school you can go to while you’re there.  And you have to call us often,” she added, staring her daughter down to let her know that she meant business.  “We’ll send you money for food and the rent.”

<Oh, thank you!> Shuuko squealed, lunging at her mother to give her a bear hug.  “I’ll never forget this!  Thank you so, so much!”

Her mother nodded in a tired, same-old-same-old kind of way.  “You’ll have to give us time to research some schools, though, so you won’t be leaving right away.”

Shuuko was positively jumping up and down now.  “I’ll help!  If there’s anything I can do–”

“–We’ll let you know,” her mother put in.  “Now go to bed.  You still have your normal school to go to tomorrow morning.”  The mother and daughter hugged each other and then broke apart.  <Sweet dreams,> her mother smiled.

“You, too, Mom,” Shuuko replied.  <Goodnight.>

 

That had been almost a week ago.

Shuuko sat down on the soft bed and stared out the window, remembering the happiest moment of her life.  She could still hardly believe it had happened; being able to come here to Japan had always been her dream.  In truth, she was still terribly nervous, even though she had studied for this for what felt like forever.  She supposed it was a good sign that she had survived her way through the airport and had been able to tell the taxi driver the address of where she wanted to go without being misunderstood.  _So far, so good,_ she thought.

She looked around the room.  The house her parents had found her was nicer than she could ever have hoped for.  It was two stories, complete with a living room, family room, kitchen, two bedrooms, three bathrooms, a small laundry room, and a balcony off the bedroom she had chosen for her own that was through a set of French doors.  She knew her parents had only chosen this house because it was the only one within walking distance to the school they had picked.  It was hardly short of her dream home, except for the lack of a private forest and glade in the back, but she could live with that.  She had officially moved in last night, and now that she had had time to unpack her things, she felt fairly comfortable in the new surroundings.  She had given her parents all the way back in America a call to let them know she had arrived safely, and since then she had had her time to herself.

She reached over to her bedside table and picked up the small, stapled stack of paper her parents had made her about her new but temporary school.  Azumano Middle School was inked at the top, followed by the address and other essential info for her to get the gist.  Over the phone, mother had given her a quick scoop of how it was going to work.

“I’ve called the school for you already,” her mother had told her, “and they’ve sent you a school uniform to your house that should get there sometime tomorrow.  You’ll have to take the railcar there, but it shouldn’t be too long of a trip.  I wrote down directions for you on the paper I gave you before you left, okay?”

Shuuko flipped the paper over and reread the directions for the seventh time.  She wanted to make sure she had it right, for she had an awful habit of getting lost.  _I can’t believe I’ll be going to a new school tomorrow!_ she thought, another little wave of panic washing over her.  She tried to comfort herself by thinking that there was no way she could have prepared better; she had done all she could.

She went downstairs and into the kitchen to fix herself a cup of tea.  _I’m going to be drinking a lot of this while I’m here, so I’d better start getting used to it._   Earlier that morning she had gone out briefly to pick up some essential groceries to last her until her parents’ first check came in the mail.  She couldn’t help but worry about one thing, though:  of all the kinds of food she had to hate, fish was at the top.  She _hated_ fish in all of its shapes and sizes.  She knew the Japanese ate a lot of fish, so would she be able to get by?  _I guess I’ll be eating a lot of noodles._

For most of the remainder of the day, Shuuko hustled around the house making sure everything was in its proper place for the hundredth time.  What she was really waiting for was the school uniform to come.  _I hope it’s cute,_ she couldn’t help but think.

Thankfully, though, she didn’t have to wait forever.  Later, in the evening, her doorbell rang and Shuuko sprang to answer it, coming face to face with a delivery man.

“Delivery for Shuuko Tanabe,” he said in a voice that indicated he did this way too many times a day.

“That’s me,” she said carefully.  She took the box from him.  “Thank you.”

He gave her a small bow and hurried back down her walkway to his truck, which he drove off around the corner.  Shuuko smiled to herself, glad her mother had registered her in the school as Shuuko, not Sasha, and had used her maiden name instead of their English surname.  She preferred it this way, and it was easier on everyone to pronounce.  She closed the front door and sat down at the kitchen table to tear the tape off the box, which proved to need scissors.  Once she had battled her way through to the cardboard, she opened the flaps and held up the uniform.

To Shuuko, it was absolutely adorable.  The maroon pleated skirt, the white shirt with tails, and the matching maroon vest to go over it was just the kind of thing she’d like to wear to school every day.  She picked it out of the box and tore up the stairs to her bathroom to hold it up to herself.  It _looked_ like it would fit, but there was only one way to know for sure.  Without a second thought, she stripped down and put on the uniform, holding her breath.

When she looked in the mirror, she let out a sigh of relief.  Her only thought was that it fit all right, not that she looked good in it.  She’d never admit something like that; it wasn’t like she was _pretty._   She was a little amazed that they had managed to come up with a size that fit properly, because she knew she had to be taller than most girls who lived here.  The skirt _was_ a little shorter than she was used to, but she’d just have to learn to cope.

Satisfied, she changed carefully out of the uniform and hung it up in her closet.  Now the only challenge left was facing a whole new school the next morning.  _I hope I don’t make a complete fool of myself!_   In an effort to distract herself, she hurried downstairs to clean up the mess she had made on the kitchen table from opening the box in such a rush and make dinner.

She ate some hot soup, had a glass of milk, and then took a shower.  She hadn’t forgotten to bring all her lavender soaps with her.  Once she was nice and clean, she dressed in her nightgown and got into the unfamiliar bed.  It was soft, but it still wasn’t quite like her bed at home, which was even squishier.  _I’ll get used to it._

She reached to the digital clock beside her bed and set the alarm; she didn’t want to be late for tomorrow.


End file.
